“America’s Got Talent” Winner: Who Won “AGT” Season 11?

Truth rating: 10

By Shari Weiss | 9:58 pm, September 14, 2016

(NBC)

“America’s Got Talent” announced the winner for season 11 on Wednesday’s finale. Get all the results and see video below!

As Gossip Cop reported, the 2016 finals took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Tuesday. Ten acts took the stage: singer Sal Valentinetti, contortionist Sofie Dossi, music group Linkin Bridge, singer Laura Bretan, mentalist couple The Clairvoyants, singer Brian Justin Crum, mime Tape Face, juggler Viktor Kee, magician Jon Dorenbos and singer Grace VanderWaal. Amazingly, all received standing ovations, with the judges indicating multiple times that it was anyone’s game to win.

But the NBC competition, of course, can only have one winning act. At stake is a tremendous prize: $1 million and a residency in Las Vegas. And unlike during the auditions, judge cuts, quarterfinals and semifinals, the panelists have no say in choosing the winner. It’s all up to America and based on the votes cast following last night’s broadcast.

The results announcement began with Nick Cannon revealing which of the Top 10 were still in contention and now part of the Top 5. They were Sal Valentinetti, Jon Dorenbos, Grace VanderWaal, The Clairvoyants and Brian Justin Crum. From there, it was narrowed down one by one.

In fifth place was Sal Valentinetti. Brian Justin Crum finished in fourth. And Jon Dorenbos took third, with less than one percent of the vote separating him from the Top 2.

Of course, that left The Clairvoyants and Grace Vanderwaal as the final two. And VanderWaal WON! She promptly broke down into tears, and was congratulated by Howie Mandel, who had picked her as his Golden Buzzer in the auditions.

VanderWaal now follows in the footsteps of previous “AGT” winners, such as ventriloquist Paul Zerdin (2015) and magician Mat Franco (2014). Check out full video of the final results announcement below!